Cleveland, Ohio will always have a special place in my heart.
If you’ve followed my blog for a couple of years now, you would know that I lived in Cleveland for 4 years while I was getting my college degree. After moving to Sydney, Australia a couple of years ago, both my partner and I (who I met in Cleveland and who also studied at Cleveland State University), haven’t been back to Cleveland at all. After 3 years, we knew that we had to make a stop in Cleveland before heading home for the holidays and visit our favorite restaurants, local spots, and of course, see our college friends.
While attending college, I lived directly in Downtown Cleveland. If you’ve never been to Cleveland before, Downtown Cleveland has a plethora of things to do which is why I knew that when visiting Cleveland again, I wanted to make sure to stay right Downtown.
Our Wandering Mind was lucky enough to partner with The Drury Plaza Hotel Cleveland, but, as always, all opinions are completely my own.
The Drury Plaza Hotel Cleveland is located right in the center of Downtown Cleveland. Located a couple of streets off of Euclid Avenue, with staying at The Drury Plaza Hotel Cleveland, you have close access to Public Square, The Browns Stadium, The Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse, endless restaurants, and while still being a little out of the way to be able to get some peace and quiet.
With its ideal location, it makes it the perfect place for a family getaway or a weekend Winter retreat which is what we did.
The Drury Plaza Hotel in Downtown Cleveland is a converted former board of education building which you can tell by the grand architectural details which overall really provides a lot of character to the building.
The whole hotel feels incredibly grand. From the entrance, to the two fully restored murals from 1931 in the lobby, the large heated indoor pool, to all of the 189 non-smoking rooms in the six-story Drury Plaza, you’ll definitely be feeling like you’re living in luxury when staying at The Drury Plaza in Downtown Cleveland. However, without having to pay an astronomical price.
When entering The Drury Plaza Cleveland, we were greeted by extremely tall ceilings, friendly valet staff, and gorgeous marble detailing. Checking in was super easy and everyone at The Drury Plaza in Cleveland was incredibly friendly and went out of their way to make sure our stay was comfortable with their 24-hour front desk.
With it being the holidays, The Drury Plaza in Cleveland also went all out with the holiday decorations and truly made us feel like the holidays and got me really excited for Christmas. Especially if you’re away from home for the Holidays, small touches like Christmas trees and holiday decorations in the lobby and throughout the hotel really brings the homey feel that you search for when traveling around the holidays.
Although The Drury Plaza in Cleveland looks extremely grand and historical with all the arechechtual design elements, it has all the regular functionality and inclusions that you would want from a hotel such as valet parking, swimming pool, indoor gym, laundry facility, free WIFI and a business center, which is really nice and made our stay a lot more comfortable.
During our stay at The Drury Plaza Cleveland, we stayed in the King Deluxe Suite. Our room itself had the same grand feeling as the rest of the hotel with extremely tall ceilings, a large King Bed, and a clean, spacious bathroom.
Our room featured extra amenities including a closet, lounge chair, a desk, and a flat-screen TV, coffee machine, mini-fridge, and a great view of the front lawn. We had plenty of space to store our two large suitcases in the closet and with all the storage in the room, we really could unpack and feel relaxed in the King Suite, making it a great option for a weekend getaway or for a long-term stay.
Our room was very comfortable, especially the King size bed. Our bed was actually so comfortable that I checked to see what the linens were on the bed to look into purchasing them for myself at home, which I’ve never done before!
Needless to say, you’ll definitely be sleeping well at The Drury Plaza.
The Drury Hotel is also an animal-friendly hotel for a small additional fee which I think is absolutely great. Especially with the holidays, it’s great that at The Drury Plaza in Cleveland, your able to travel with your entire family, including your animals.
Grass in a city is always hard to come by, which may make traveling with your dog a little stressful. However, in the front of The Drury Plaza, there is a large front lawn which was definitely utilized by the dog owners in the morning and at night and we also saw a few groups playing a game of pickup football out front too.
However, what really makes the Drury Plaza Hotel in Cleveland stand out to me is the value and extra amenities of the hotel.
Although the hotel itself is beautiful and our room was incredibly comfortable, the amenities and “freebies” at The Drury Plaza definitely makes it a must when staying in Downtown Cleveland.
Every night from 5:30-7:oo PM, The Drury hosts a “Kickback” which features free cocktails, wine, and a wide variety of different food including salad, hot dogs, nachos, and the daily changing menu with different kinds of pasta, baked potatoes, and other hot foods. Although the “Kickback” isn’t advertised as a “free dinner” there was plenty of food that you could easily fill up and skip out on dinner after attending the Kickback.
With the Kickback, each guest receive a number of alcoholic drinks each night which is handed to you on a drink card. Along with the cocktails, there is unlimited fountain drinks and coffee and a tea station as well. I found incredibly nice when taking a to-go coffee before exploring Downtown Cleveland in the morning.
Along with the Kickback, popcorn is available 24/7 and a breakfast bar included in your stay as well. The breakfast was tasty and offered a variety of different hot and cold options that you wouldn’t necessarily find at a traditional continental hotel breakfast like pancakes, scrambled eggs, sausage, fresh fruit, biscuits and gravy and much more.
I was honestly so impressed and amazed on how much free food and drinks The Drury Plaza automatically includes in our stay.
As I mentioned, the location of The Drury Plaza in Downtown Cleveland is absolutely perfect. You’re less than a 5-minute walk away from popular spots like Public Square, Euclid Avenue and under a 10-minute walk from Playhouse Square, The Browns Stadium, Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse (home of the Cleveland Cavaliers), and Progressive Stadium along with The Great Lakes Science Center and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
This makes exploring Cleveland super easy and incredibly convenient.
Overall, I was extremely impressed with our stay at The Drury Plaza Cleveland and if you’re staying in Cleveland, I highly recommend staying at The Drury Plaza.
From the comfort of our room, to the location, and most importantly, the inclusions that The Drury Plaza Cleveland includes in your reservation and all at a very affordable price, The Drury Plaza Cleveland cannot be beat.
If you would like to check out The Drury Plaza some more, along with the location in Downtown Cleveland, they also have a number of locations all over the U.S. you can check out their website here.
If you’re not following me on Instagram, you can also check that out here. I not only give you room tours of places like The Drury Plaza, but also take you along my travels in real time.
Mini Cleveland Travel Guide
If you want a full in-depth travel guide for Cleveland, you can check out my Cleveland Travel Guide here. However, I wanted to include a mini Winter specific guide for Cleveland in this post as well. Below are places that I recommend visiting when visiting Cleveland, especially in Winter.
Where to Eat:
Although you’ll be more than satisfied with the food options at The Drury, if you’re looking to get a delicious bite to eat, I recommend checking out:
Barrio Taco: This was our go-to destination in college and it’s just as good as I remembered. We went to Barrio every day when staying in Downtown Cleveland because it’s THAT good. Do yourself a favor and try the stoner shell with pulled pork, queso, and a blood orange margarita. You won’t be disappointed.
What to Do:
There’s so much to do in Cleveland, especially around the holidays. If you want to check out things you can do year-round in Cleveland, definitely check out my Cleveland Travel Guide. However, below I’ve listed more ideas specially for Winter in Cleveland.
Public Square: During the holidays, Public Square is like a Winter Wonderland right in Downtown Cleveland with the ginormous Christmas tree, gorgeous Christmas lights, and ice skating rink. If you’re in Cleveland for the Holidays, Public Square is definitely a place to stop.
Located right next to Public Square is Tower City which is a gorgeous building with some stores in it. Although I never found the shopping in Tower City really worth my while, there are gorgeous decorations towards the back of the mall and in the window displays outside that are definitely worth your time.
A Christmas Story: If you didn’t know, A Christmas Story was filmed right in Cleveland and especially around Christmas time, the city really pays tribute to the iconic Christmas movie. If you’re a fan of A Christmas Story, Cleveland is your ideal Winter Getaway with the window display at Tower City, A Christmas Story Broadway Show playing at Playhouse Square, and visiting the original Christmas Story House, located less than 10 minutes from Downtown Cleveland.
In Cleveland, you can definitely get in the Christmas spirit with A Christmas Story.
Night Life: Cleveland has some amazing bars right Downtown with Happy Hour Specials Daily. In college, there was a number of bars that we would go to which I’ve mentioned in detail more in my Cleveland Guide, but post-college, my experience at bars are a little different and because of that, I recommend checking out the following:
City Tap: City Tap is a great sports bar with what seems like a hundred different beer on tap options. They have Happy Hour Specials from 5-6 and Power Hour from 8-9 pm. With large screen TVs on everywhere you look, a pool table, and amazing loaded tater tots, City Tap is a great place to catch whatever game is playing that day.
Wild Eagle: Located only a 5-minute walk from City Tap, Wild Eagle is a bar with a twist. It features self-serving beer stations where you purchase a card and able to pour your own drink along with a full bar and American cuisine. There are also tons of games to play like bowling and pool, and with live music, it makes it a great place to get together with a group of friends.
Browns Game: We were lucky enough that the weekend we were visiting Cleveland was The Browns last home game so of course, we knew we had to go. If you’re brave enough, tailgating with the locals is a one of a kind experience located in the Muni Lot before the stadium until the game starts. Hundreds of people BBQ, drink and pregame before the Browns Game. It’s a great time and everyone’s super friendly! People start tailgating as early as 7 am and go up until the game starts.
We had tickets to the game so after tailgating, we enjoyed watching the Browns play on an unusually warm December day. Regardless if you’re a Browns fan or a football fan in general, attending these games are a great time with the atmosphere of the fans.
I hope from my post and review at The Drury Plaza in Downtown Cleveland that you can see that Cleveland should be your next winter destination. Cleveland is such a great city for any season, but something about Winter in Cleveland is so magical and definitely worth a visit!
Have you ever been to Cleveland before? Let me know in the comments down below!
Our Wandering Mind got the amazing opportunity to partner with The Drury Plaza Hotel Cleveland during our Cleveland Winter Getaway. As always, all thoughts and opinions are completely my own.
